Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?
At multiple junctions of life I have been tested with this question. Not an expert in psychology but personally I find this question extremely stupid and random. I don’t think anybody till date has been able to get an answer from me. And although it may sound so but this note ain’t gonna give one.
Hot summer, sleepless night, eerie silence, breeze entangling in my tousled hair. Add to it the despair of the impending Monday morning. Such a lovely concoction for the soul, a spirit to the floating thoughts to dance in this symphony.
Now that the perfect tonic has been served, my mind tries to seek the answer to this so called test of personality. And yet again my mind refuses to budge from its stand. If I can’t conjure an answer in this grand Orchestra playing in my head, I am pretty sure this question will go into the list of questions that mankind will never get an answer to.
Out of the ripples this attempt caused in my train of thoughts, I found something that I never sought to know.
Where was I 10 years before now? That was the time when seasons mattered more than deciding possible destinations for long weekends. As a school kid April would probably be the equivalent of a weekend for the grown ups. The war would have been fought, weapons laid down. It was the time to unwind. Waking up at dawn was something to look forward to, for the cricket field awaited it’s champions. (I need to wake up at 7 tomorrow and I know I won’t be able to make it). I wonder if it’s my nostalgic mind, but I clearly remember, the skies had many stars to gaze at than what I could see from my balcony today. I use an app now to figure out the constellations. Those blissful summers one just needed an electricity cut to witness the grandeur of nature
, with the stars connecting themselves in beautiful patterns guided by pure unadulterated imagination.
In one of those nights 10 years before now, is there any possibility i would have imagined myself with a coffee mug, in the southern part of the country, brooding about a standard HR interview question?
I remember in 3rd year of college (March 2012 if my memory is still sane) one of my senior was trying to prep me for the upcoming placement interview. He asked me the same question-”where do you…. “. I gave the usual reply that I dont have an answer. I was told that this portrays lack of plan and strategy in my character which is a must have to survive in corporate. The weight of his reaction that day made me realize how lucky I am to have survived 3 years(and still counting).
The sad part is I do realize it’s not my prudence that keeps me from responding to this question. In reality I am like a boat with sails hoisted and no rudder. I am sailing without a map. A sailor who doesn’t know what’s ahead but then I do remember all the crevices, the reefs, the whirlpools that my boat passes through. I have no clue where I will be 10 years hence, but I do know(or rather hope) that I will be sitting in a balcony somewhere on a hot summer night, knitting the memories from the past .May be I will stumble on today. May be 10 years from today there will be even lesser stars to gaze at….